An update on the mowing back in the fall. It is gorgeous!! I have a wide swath of berry canes, sumac, sassafras and aspen whips, timothy and brome grass, vetch, wildflowers and other vegetation. A patch of sumac has expanded at least 10 fold! The dogwood thickets are regenerating and so are the elde...

In Michigan, we have a "quiet time" from April 15 to July 8th where you can't run your dogs, except in designated field trial areas or if you have a training permit. I have a permit, so I run on my property year round. I used a pen to get a dog started, but I usually start them on wild stuff. This d...

Orchard grass doesn't hold up as well as the warm-season grasses if you get a lot of snow. It will go dormant but come back in the spring. To keep it palatable it should be mowed when it gets to tall and rank.

I won a "cheese wheel" trap at The World Hunt. Caught two rabbits in four days. They really work!! And they are relatively easy to make compared to box traps. I used the one that I won as a pattern and made five in an afternoon.

I've never been to a trial run in a pen, so I'll hold any remarks. I run Little Pack in the wild. Some days there are several rabbits that run well and other days it's hard to find one anywhere--just like hunting. Michigan just held there state hunt and out of 115 dogs I don't think we had one off-g...

I have; they are supposed to help with bigger litters. I know I see rabbits in my gravel drive picking up pebbles that I assume have salt from snow residue on them. I think it's hard for them to find salt in most habitats.

One of my pups started barking track at 13 weeks. I started taking them afield at 8 weeks. We learned how to get over, under or around obstructions, about thickets, tall grass, new smells, etc. I would just take the pup out and let it learn. Everything is new, no matter what age. As Ronnie Smith, a ...